Brad Thomas
bthomas@salisburypost.com

ROWAN COUNTY ó Gas prices soared this morning in Rowan County, jumping more than 40 cents on average in less than 12 hours.

The Hess station on East Innes Street had the cheapest gas as of 10 a.m. Friday, and also the longest lines in the Salisbury area.

People were lined up six cars deep waiting to get gasoline at $3.61 a gallon. Around 10:30, gas there had risen 4 cents a gallon to $3.65, (update 1:30 p.m. gas at this station is $3.88 a gallon).
A caller from Davidson County reports gas at one station has gone from $3.79 to $5.27.
To help keep track of the gasoline prices, we have started a blog to keep up with the prices.

Post your prices below

Please note, these prices may have changed by the time you arrive to the particular gas station.

Video

Post your video and blogs on SalisburyPostables.com.

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Updated 1:45 p.m.
Easely allows enforcement of anti-gouging law
RALEIGH (AP) ó Gov. Mike Easley has declared a state of ěabnormal market disruptionî and signed an order allowing the attorney general to enforce North Carolinaís anti-gouging law.
The declaration comes Friday as Hurricane Ike bears down on Texas oil refineries, and gasoline prices in North Carolina and other states are rising.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said Friday the law applies to all levels of the fuel supply chain. Cooper said his office is ready to take consumer complaints.
Easley said wholesale prices were up less than 20 cents a gallon and consumers shouldnít see prices rise substantially more than the wholesale increase.

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Updated 1:45 p.m.
SC residents fill up as Ike nears Gulf Coast
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) ó Gas customer across South Carolina are hurrying to top off their tanks as Hurricane Ike shuts down some refineries along the Gulf Coast.
Cayce resident Rosa Bailey said she rushed to a Shell station Friday morning to fill up her familyís truck with $3.79 regular unleaded. She worried prices would skyrocket even higher as they did in 2005 before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast.
After Katrina, prices spiked to $3 a gallon, then a high price, and some stations ran out of gasoline. The upper Texas coast accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity.
There were lines for gasoline Thursday night in Columbia, Sumter and Greenville. AAA Carolinas chief David Parsons says topping off tanks would make the situation worse before officials know how bad the damage from the storm will be.